The third novel, Harpist in the Wind, was nominated for the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award, and the series remains one of McKillip's most popular works. Several Omnibus editions have been produced under various names, including Riddle of Stars, Quest of Riddlemasters, and The Riddlemaster's Game.

Morgon was a student before his parents died and he became the land-ruler of Hed. He was born with a birth mark of three stars on his forehead which are the subject of prophecy, although he tries to ignore that. When the High One's harpist, Deth, comes to visit during his travels, he informs Morgon that Raederle of An's hand in marriage was promised to whomever could defeat Peven of Aum in a riddle game and that An has been in an uproar ever since Peven told the last person to challenge him that he was too late. Morgon admits that he won Peven's crown in a riddle game and resolves to go with Deth to visit Raederle and offer himself in marriage.

Before they can get very far, their ship is attacked by shape-changers who are determined to kill The Starbearer aka Morgon. For his very life, Morgon travels with Deth to the High One on Erlenstar Mountain in search of an answer to the riddle of three stars.

The second book follows Raederle of An, Lyra of Herun, and Morgon's sister Tristan as they search for Morgon, Deth, and the High One, who are all now considered missing ever since Morgon reached the High One and fell out of all contact. The third book deals with the growing war against the shape-changers and the continuing search for the truth about the High One.

The main characters:

Morgon of Hed: aka The Star-Bearer. He is the Prince of Hed and least important of land-rulers. He was born with three stars on his forehead which are the subject of some of the oldest unsolved riddles. Before his parents died Morgan attended Caithnard where he studied riddle mastery. Shortly before the first book he secretly bet his life in a riddle game that hundreds of men have died attempting. He keeps the crown he won under his bed and just wantsto farm.

Deth: The High One's harpist and Morgon's closest friend and mentor. He guides Morgon to Erlenstar Mountain.

Raederle of An: the "second most beautiful woman in the three portions of An", and daughter of the land-ruler of An. She was promised by her father Mathom to the man who would defeat Peven and win his crown. She is the Rebellious Princess protagonist of the second book, Heir of Sea and Fire.

Tropes Used:

Action Girl: Lyra of Herun, who is herself the leader of the Morgol's all-female guard.

Actual Pacifist: Morgon until he is betrayed. He is brought back to himself, brutally and then broken in half all over again out of necessity.

Aerith and Bob: While most names are a bit strange, they still range from the relatively-normal Tristan and Morgon to Ghisteslwchlohm. Of course, there's some cultural differences at work here; Tristan and Morgon are both from Hed, which has the most "normal" names, and while Ghisteslwchlohm's origins are never explained, it's speculated that he's from Herun, where Overly Long Names are the norm.

A God Am I: Ghisteslwchlohm impersonating the High One. He knows he's not the real deal, but as the most powerful being in the realm, he figures he can make a better go at it than anyone. His ultimate plan was to use Morgon to acquire the land-law of all the realm's kingdoms, becoming the High One in truth.

Engagement Challenge: Raederle has been offered by her father to the man who can defeat Peven in a riddle game. It's been considered unwinnable for centuries before Morgon comes along.

Everything's Better with Princesses: Though the word "princess" is never actually used, Raederle, Lyra, and Tristan are all young women of royal extraction who happen to be main characters.

Evil Mentor: Ghisteslwchlohm's standard operating procedure. He does it repeatedly, once in the backstory when he founded Lungold to control the other wizards, then destroyed it when they started to catch on, once in the modern day to Morgon, while posing as Ohm, and once in a more overarching sense by posing as the High One.

Expy: The author is an explicit fan of The Lord of the Rings, and while this series is considerably different as a whole, there is one example of this- Ghisteslwchlohm bears a striking resemblance in many respects to Saruman.

The author is on record that one of the direct inspirations for the series is the "Paths of the Dead" sequence from Return of the King, which influence can be seen in the binding of the dead kings of An in the third book.

Eyes of Gold: All the Morgols of Herun have them; it's a side-effect of the power that lets them see through solid objects.

Forced to Watch: Deth, if not by Ghisteslwchlohm then by his own conscience and because there's nothing he can do to save Morgon.

Functional Magic: Inherent Gift is pretty common, particularly among land-rulers and their families; the whole world is filled with Wild Magic; Rule Magic has largely disappeared with the wizards but returns with them.

Hidden Depths: Several characters, including Morgon, the peaceful farmer-Prince of a remote island, who is the last one anyone (including himself) expects to get caught up in prophecies that will affect all the lands; Raederle, who has inherited more than she knows or wants to know from the mysterious shapeshifters beneath the sea; and the pig-woman of An who Raederle befriends.

Magic Music: Very much so, the highest example being Morgon's harp, which he can barely play.

Make Me Wanna Shout: When people are emotional, they can give Great Shouts capable of shattering stone. It doesn't seem like something they can weaponize so much as a type of Power Incontinence, since nobody is ever shown doing it deliberately.

Meaningful Name: Deth and Rood, who is willing to strip to make a point. Also Yrth 'earth' and Raederle 'riddle', referring to her ancestry.

Spell Book: Of the most obscure and impractical kind. Opening them is the first challenge.

Standard Hero Reward: Lampshaded. When Morgan finds out that a king swore his daughter to anyone who could win a contest he'd just won, he asks how anyone could be so stupid as to make such a promise. Luckily, there was already some attraction between the two (and it's implied that the king had some ability to see the future and foresee this outcome.)

The Unpronounceable: One of the wizards is actually called "Iff of the Unpronouncable Name"; it turns out his full name has to be sung, not spoken, and even then it took a while to work out the tune.

Wham Line: At least one per book, but the most obvious is at the very end of the first book, when Morgan's mentor, Ohm, reveals that he's simultaneously the Big Bad, Ghisteslwchlohm, and what people thought was the Big Good, the High One:

"I am Ghisteslwchlohm, the Founder of Lungold, and—as you have guessed—its destroyer. I am the High One."

Wizards Live Longer: All the wizards are centuries old at least; it's implied that they do die of old age eventually, but exactly how long they last isn't specified. This also holds true for some other magic-users who aren't wizards, like the more powerful land rulers; Har is roughly two thousand years old, and Danan Isig may be even older.

TV Tropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy